How to Use Your Google Home as a Bluetooth Speaker

September 1, 20176:53 am

In the most recent update, the Google Home has gained the ability to function as a Bluetooth speaker. Although many apps allow you to cast to your Google Home, not all of them do. So this is a feature that many people may want to use.

First, you need to make your Google Home discoverable. There are two ways to do this. The easiest way is to say, “OK, Google, Bluetooth pairing.” This will make the device discoverable for a few minutes. The second way requires the Google Home app on your mobile device.

Open the Google Home app

Click the device button in the top right corner

Click the more option button to the right of the device you wish to enable

Click settings

Click Paired Bluetooth Devices

Click Enable Pairing Mode in the bottom right corner

Now open Bluetooth settings on your mobile device, and select your Google Home speaker. Your device will now stream to your Google Home.

About James Oates

James Oates officially joined the Cool Blind Tech podcast team in the summer of 2014. James is an advocate of accessible technology across all platforms, with an emphasis on Windows. As a former K-12 educator, James brings his passion for teaching to the CBT audience in an effort to help listeners realize their potential and explore new avenues of empowerment through technology. Blind since childhood, James currently lives in Florida.
You can follow him on Twitter, @BLIND_MATRIX

CBT takes a look at the Google Home Mini with updated touch controls. Shortly after launching the Mini, Google disabled all touch controls due to an issue with the touch control on the top of the device constantly being triggered even when not touched.

Google recently added some touch controls back to it’s Mini speaker. Here’s what you can do:

To play, pause, stop music playback or end a phone call, long-press on either side of the Home Mini.

Stop a timer or alarm with a tap on either side of the device.

Tap the left side to decrease volume.

Tap the right side to increase volume.

Touch control on the top of the Home Mini is still missing. You will need to summon Google Assistant using your voice, instead of a long-press on the top of Home Mini as was originally intended.

If the long-press actions aren’t working for you quite yet, be patient. An update is rolling out to all Google Home Mini devices to add the new touch controls.